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From Scotland to Australia
Shipping information and extracts relating to the transportation of both Alexander McLeans’ from Scotland To Australia.
1. Alexander McLean 1821-1909
Alexander McLean and Isabella Morris arrived in Launceston Tasmania on the 24th April 1860 aboard the sailing ship Indiana.The Captain was James McKirdy
According to shipping documents, Alexander McLean and Isabella Morris arrived in Tasmania as "Bounty Passengers"
The INDIANA departed Glascow on the 24th December 1859 Arrival documents indicate that: i. Alexander was a ploughman, aged 24, Presbyterian, able to read and write and a native of CREIFF.
ii. Isabella was a dairymaid, aged 18, Presbyterian, able to read and write and a native of CREIFF.
INDIANA
Photograph supplied by Denise & Peter of Wellington New Zealand
Specifications of the Indiana follow:
SS Indianna was a Wooden Barque of 852 tons
Built 1856, Thomas Lee, Quebec, Canada
160.4ft L, 34.1ft B, 20.8ft D
1857, January 27th. Sold to Shankland & Co. Port of Reg. Greenock
1871 September 8th. Stranded on the Beaumont Shoals, St Lawrence River, while on passage from Liverpool to Quebec. She was declared a partial loss and sold "as lies" $4000.
Ref: Lloyds Register, Lloyds List, Northern Shipwrecks Cd and personal researches by John D Stevenson, Trinity Research Service, Scottish Maritime History research, Edinburgh.
Additional Information
supplied by Harry Dodsworth, Ottawa Onterio Canada
The note about the wreck of the Indiana in 1871 appears to be
slightly different from the reports in the Montreal Gazette.
Montreal Gazette, September 9, 1871
The ship Indiana, Captain Duckham, from Liverpool July 22, coal laden,
and consigned to Messrs. John Burstall & Co, went ashore last night at
Beaumont, east end of the buoy. A steamer has gone to her assistance.
Montreal Gazette, September 10, 1871
The steamers E P Dorr and Anglesea went down yesterday to the ship
Indiana, previously reported ashore at Beaumont, to endeavor to haul
her off, but without success. The E P Dorr towed two batteaux and a
steam engine during the afternoon to enable them to commence discharging
cargo.
Montreal Gazette, September 12, 1871
Arrived Quebec September 11
Bark Indiana 852, Duckham, Liverpool, July 23rd, J Burstall & Co, coal.
Montreal Gazette, September 13, 1871
The bark Indiana, previously reported ashore on Beaumont Reef, was
floated off yesterday morning and towed into port by the steamer Margaret.
She will go into dock for repair.
2. Alexander McLean 1821-1909
THE UTOPIA
UTOPIA (1) Specifications
The Utopia was a Wooden Ship, built in New Brunswick in 1853 (National Archives of Canada, record group 42, Volume 1347 (original Vol. 136) reel C 386, page 151). According to the annual volumes of Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1854/1855 - 1867/68, she was 949 tons, & measured 153.4ft L x 31.3ft B x 22.2ft D(length x beam x depth of hold) Owner: 1854/55-1857/58 W.Sharp; 1858/59-1864/65 James Baines & Co (the "Black Ball Line"). Destined Voyage 1854/55 - Australia; 1855/56-1857/58 - India; 1858//1859-1866/67 - Australia; 1866/67-1867/68 - India. On 10th March 1867, John Dickie, master, she sailed from Liverpool, but was almost immediately found to be leaking badly, and on 13 March was abandoned about 70 miles south of Cape Clear, the board of inquiry found the master negligent in putting to sea in a leaky vessel, but found that he did so under pressure from the ship owner and the shipping broker, and so his master's certificate with an admonition (Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons, 1871, 1xi.693).
Additional information
supplied by Harry Dodsworth, Ottawa Onterio Canada
Esther Clark Wright's note on the Utopia is as follows:
The James Johnston who built the ship Utopia, 940 tons, may have been
a captain who had notions of the type of vessel he would like to see built
or he may have come from Charlotte County [New Brunswick], where there
was a Lake Utopia. The bankers, Samuel and William Parks, who owned the
ship, sold her to Liverpool in 1853, the year she was launched. She
became a celebrated case in 1867, when one master resigned rather than
take the badly overloaded vessel to sea, and another, who would like
to have resigned when he saw the vessel's load, was threatened with
blacklisting by the agency which had hired him. The vessel had to be
abandoned before reaching an Irish port, and the whole story was
related in the Nautical Magazine for 1867.
The following is an Extract from PORTLAND GUARDIAN Thursday Evening, February 2. 1854
"The Utopia was 949 ton sailing ship which departed Liverpool on the 3rd November 1853, under the Mastership of Captain Wilkinson, and arrived in Portland on 27th January, 1854. There were 398 immigrants aboard and 83 passengers, 13 sailors absconded.
The testimonials, which are, published below exhibits the very excellent feeling, which the emigrants of the Utopia entertain both towards Captain Wilkinson, and Mr S.J. Thomas the Surgeon Superintendent. It must be highly gratifying to both these gentlemen to stand so high in the esteem of the whole body of emigrants whom they have conducted to these shores through all the trials of a distant sea voyage: as it is undoubtedly to their credit to have deserved that esteem. The Utopia has proved herself a fast sailing vessel. She sighted the Australian shore at Mount Gambier, in 80 days from the time of leaving Liverpool. She crossed the line in 4 weeks, and reached this Port in 7 weeks and 6 days from thence: thus beating the Clipper ship Eagle by 2 days from the equator. For six weeks the Utopia averaged 200 miles a day. The 5 deaths that occurred on board proceeded - 2 Diarrhoea, 1 Phthisis and 2 Bronchitis. There were 5 births. The emigrants are described as of a very superior class; and the propriety of their conduct throughout the whole voyage is highly spoken of both by the Captain and the Surgeon Superintendent."
3 John BUNCLE & Helen HUTCHINSON
ROBERT BENN (1841-42)
The following information on the ROBERT BENN which transported the Buncles to Melbourne.The master was Captain Richie and it sailed from Greenock on the 20/9/1842 arriving in Melbourne on the 26/1/1843
Merchandise: 8 passengers, 365 bounty immigrants
Specifications of ROBERT BENN
Wooden Barque
According to Records of Canadian Shipping by Fredrick William Wallace, the ship was built by James Jeffrey at Quebec City in 1840.
809 tons
1841. Sold to Graham & McFie, Port of Reg. Greenock.
1847 Foundered in Bay of Biscay on passage from Bombay to Liverpool with cargo of tea valued at 80,000 pounds stirling
Captain and crew lost.
Ref: Lloyds Register, Lloyds List, Northern Shipwrecks Cd and personal researches by John D Stevenson, Trinity Research Service, Scottish Maritime History research, Edinburgh. plus Harry Dodsworth Ottawa Ontario Canada
